ICE agents fear for their safety after security fence removed at Chicago-area facility amid sometimes violent protests

CHICAGO, Ill. — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview has been the site of many rowdy and sometimes violent protests as Operation Midway Blitz is well under way. With rioters consistently attempting to block the building’s driveway and road to disrupt operations, the federal government installed a temporary security fence to keep crowds at a distance.

That changed this week after a judge ruled the fence must come down after a lawsuit was brought by the city, saying the installment prevented emergency services from reaching other buildings behind the fence. The fence was effective in preventing agitators from blocking the driveway and forced the crowds to switch locations to gather. Border Patrol and ICE agents still had to repeatedly clear the roads to allow federal vehicles to reach the facility.

‘What’s happening is not just regular business there. It was rioting.’

Perhaps in an attempt to prevent the National Guard from being deployed, the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Office have sent manpower to assist federal agents in keeping the roads clear. While the extra manpower has been put to use with the disruptive anti-ICE crowds, ICE says the removal of the fence means agents cannot use yet another tool in their toolbox to keep themselves, detainees, and the facility safe.

“Anyone should be able to come up to a federal building when they have some business there, but what’s happening is not just regular business there. It was rioting,” Sam Olsen, field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations in Chicago, told Blaze News.

RELATED: Border Patrol squashes anti-ICE blockade outside ICE facility in Illinois

Julio Rosas/Blaze News

“That fence did give us some additional protection,” Olsen noted, adding that it was good to see local and state law enforcement on the ground after weeks of no support.

Concrete barriers now line the roads around the facility to keep crowds on the sidewalk, though sometimes those barriers do not deter people from jumping over them.

The security fence also gave ICE agents breathing room as they wait to see whether the National Guard can be deployed. While soldiers from Texas were sent to protect the building in Broadview and were seen patrolling behind the fence, their deployment has been halted in a similar fashion to the deployment in Portland, Oregon.

Olsen said the recent deadly shooting at the ICE facility in Dallas, which killed two detainees and injured a third, is fresh in agents’ minds as they work to secure the building near Chicago. Despite the over 1000% increase in attacks on federal agents, both Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) continue to blame the violence on Homeland Security personnel instead of anti-ICE crowds attacking agents conducting operations.

Friday morning saw more chaotic protests in Broadview down the street from the ICE building, with ISP troopers arresting multiple people who refused to leave the road when ordered. Some also expressed concern about the lack of fencing ahead of the No Kings protests slated to take place in Chicago as well as all over the country.

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